A composition scholar conducted a study of peer response groups in a freshmen composition course to determine what leads to conflict among students in these groups. In the course of her study, however, she found herself deeply perplexed by conflicting roles she had to play as a participant/observer. The ethnographer as a participant/observer is, as the "slash or dash" often seen between the two words suggests, a person suffering from multiple personalities, a person with a divided self. In reality, the ethnographic stance is and should be a continual renegotiation of the divided selves: participant, observer, human being, teacher, researcher, learner, and writer. Just as the researcher cannot study student language in isolation, neither can she remove herself from the context, nor become a true member of the culture. She is "other"; age, her status as teacher/researcher and her taping equipment set her apart. A study about students, in other words, becomes also a study about the self. The researcher learns that she can go against her personality type (extrovert) and be stronger for it. The role of participant/observer requires a careful balancing act between engagement and reticence. This negotiation of different selves continues through the writing of the study, as the writer attempts to maintain the dignity and humanity of the subjects through what Clifford Geertz calls "thick description." (Contains 10 references.) (TB)

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews